The penetration of Western imperialism into East Asia from the Opium Wars was followed by massive reform movements and transformations of societies and the states in this region: the Qing empire in China, Tokugawa Japan, the Chosŏn kingdom in Korea, as well as Vietnam which was progressively conquered by France after 1862. The issue of law was at the center of the movements of intellectuals who supported the idea of a radical reformation of public order and society in two dimensions. First, they aimed to elaborate the constitutional system, in either monarchy or republic (a constitutional monarchy was established in Japan in 1889, and in the Republic in China in 1912), which was viewed as the sole system able to guarantee individual rights and consolidate the rule of law. Secondly, these countries needed to fit in the West-centered world order consisting of nation-states, all acting under the new “international law” order, a concept abundantly discussed since Wheaton's Elements of International Law was translated into Chinese and Japanese around 1860.

This panel encompasses specialists of China, Japan and Korea, based in four different research centers in Europe and the United States. It will discuss how civil law was imposed in these countries from the mid-19th century, with the vision to reform society according to the new conception of nation-states. It will examine how the imperial powers promoted the ideas of international law and the rule of law in order to reinforce the supremacy of the colonial order of the time. This panel will also discuss specific legal issues in the individual colonial context.